strength of heart
by sarahbearaswt
Summary: ok heres the deal: when the unthinkable happens it is the strength of a persons heart that truely brings them through. (i started writting this LONG before a movie with a simi-similar idea came out. but i won't say what movie, it would give the story away
1. Default Chapter

"Rory! Wakey, wakey! Time to get up! Chilton awaits!" Lorelai called as she thew Rory's bedroom door open.  
  
"I'm up! I'm up!" Rory mumbled as she swung her feet out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. She felt like a two-ton truck had hit her. After taking her shower she climbed into her Chilton uniform. When she looked in the mirror she noticed she looked really pale. Even for her fair complexion, she was pale. I'm just tired from studying so late. I'll be sure to go to bed early tonight. She thought to herself. So she put on some extra blush and headed down stairs for coffee.  
  
"Umm coffee." She grumbled as her mom handed her a steaming cup of heaven. She chugged about half the cup and started to feel a little better. "Ah. Better! "  
  
"So breakfast at Luke's?" Lorelai asked as she took her coat and purse.  
  
"What kind of daughter would I be if I said no?" she said as she put her dirty cup in the sink and grabbed her backpack.  
  
By the time they got to Luke's Rory was winded. She wasn't exactly an athlete but she could usually race around town for hours before getting as tired as she was at the moment. "You order. I need to sit." She panted as she sat down.  
  
"You ok kid? You're not looking so good." Lorelai asked noticing how pale and tired Rory was.  
  
"Yea, I'm just hungry is all." She lied, not wanting to worry her mom.  
  
"Ok, I'll get you a muffin." she said as she went to the counter. She knew Rory was lying, but didn't want to argue about it. She had noticed how pale Rory was for a while, but didn't want to mention it. But today, walking to Luke's and having Rory be exhausted by the time they got there was unnerving. After arguing with Luke she returned to the table with two coffees and two muffins. "Here you go sweetie. Are you sure you're ok?"  
  
"Yea I'm fine, just a little stressed out is all. I'll be fine after I get this World War 2 test out of the way." She explained as she ate her muffin. "I gotta go get the bus. I'll see you this afternoon." She said as she got up and kissed her mom on the forehead and left. She was feeling better, but still very weak. As she rounded the corner she saw Dean sitting at the bus stop reading. She could feel herself smile as she approached. When he didn't look up she crept behind him.  
  
"Anything about me in there?" she asked  
  
"Hey!" he said as he kissed her. She came around and sat by him. "So do you have plans for this afternoon?" he asked when she sat down.  
  
"No, what did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well, since I have a half day today, I could pick you up after school and we could catch a movie."  
  
"You have a half day?"  
  
"Yea, teacher workshop or something. So how bout it?" he asked suddenly noticing how tired and weak she looked.  
  
"Yea. That sound great."  
  
"Are you ok? You don't look so well."  
  
"Yea I'm fine. Why is every one asking? Did I sprout a third eye or something?" she was starting to get aggravated that everyone was asking.  
  
"No it's just that you look really pale, and you've gotten pretty thin too. But I know you've been eating, heck you usually eat more than I do. Do you feel ok?" now that he mentioned it she looked like she felt terrible.  
  
"Yea, I've just been kind of stressed and tired. But I'm fine."  
  
"Ok if you're sure." He said as the bus pulled up.  
  
"I gotta go, I'll see you this afternoon." She kissed him and got on the bus. 


	2. chapter 2

"Thank God!" Rory said as the bell for 3rd period rang. The day from hell was half over. She made her was through the halls to her next class. She was thoroughly exhausted. When she got to the publication room she plopped down in her chair. After class had started and they reviewed the last assignment they were free to work on the next article due. Since Rory had hers finished she set her head down on the desk. Only to be disturbed by Satan incarnate.  
  
"If you want to sleep, take a different class." Paris said as she hovered over Rory.  
  
"I wasn't asleep. Sleep involves the removal of ones self from consciousness. I am very conscious." Rory said as she stood up to challenge Paris. Suddenly she got very dizzy. Before anyone could do anything she had passed out on the floor.  
  
"Rory! Rory! Get up!" Paris shouted as she knelt by Rory. Even though she acted like she hated her, Paris knew Rory was a good person and could potentially be a close friend, if she let her. "Rory can you hear me?" Paris asked as Rory started to move.  
  
"Of course I can hear you! China can hear you when you yell like that!" Rory grumbled as she sat up. "What happened?" she asked as she saw the crowd gathering around her.  
  
"You passed out." Paris informed her.  
  
"Miss Gilmore, are you all right?" their teacher asked as he pushed his way through the crowd.  
  
"Yea I think so." Rory said as she stood up. She still felt lightheaded but wasn't about to show weakness.  
  
"All the same I think Miss Gellar should accompany you to the nurse. Miss Gellar? Would you?" he asked seeing the hesitation on both of their faces.  
  
"Umm, yea sure." Paris replied as she helped Rory with her bags and they walked out the door.  
  
"Thank you Paris." Rory said as they walked down the hall.  
  
"Your welcome." Paris replied coldly.  
  
"I want you to know that no matter what anyone else says, I do not nor will I ever like or date Tristan. And when I suggested that he go out with you, it was only because I thought it would make you happy." Rory said after a few moments of silence.  
  
"Is that the absolute truth?" Paris asked.  
  
"Yes! I will put my hand on anything you want me to and swear to it. It the truth."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Look how about starting over. Right now, everything that has happened is the past. It's over, in fact, let's act like it never happened. Deal?"  
  
"Deal." Paris said as she put her hand out to shake on it. "Now are you sure your ok?"  
  
"Uh yea, I'm just a little tired and…" she started but another dizzy spell hit and she leaned against the lockers. "Ok, screw the nurse! I need to go home." Rory said as she turned and headed for the front of the school. When she got outside she sat down on a bench with Paris right behind her. "Will you do me a favor?"  
  
"Sure." Paris answered as she sat next to Rory.  
  
"Will you get my cell phone out of my bag and call Dean. I don't think I can, I'm pretty dizzy." Rory said as she leaned her head back on the back of the bench.  
  
"Sure, what's the number?"  
  
"It should be in the phone list, under Dean." Rory closed her eyes and tried to drown out all other sounds. She knew something was wrong. She had never passed out in her life. She felt really weak too, but she hadn't done anything to make her exert any energy. It's just the flu. That's all. I'll just go home and get some rest and I'll be fine tomorrow. She kept telling herself she was fine.  
  
"He said he's on his way. Do you need anything?" Paris asked after she had hung up the phone and put it back in Rory's bag.  
  
"No I'm fine." Rory mumbled without looking up. Her stomach felt like a volcano about to blow it's top. She knew if she put anything in it, she would burst. She tried to focus on something else, anything else. "Just stay and talk to me please." Listening to Paris was better than thinking about how her coffee and muffin where fighting and threatening to take it outside.  
  
"Rory, wake up. Dean's here." Rory felt some one shaking her and jumped, for a moment she had fallen asleep and forgotten where she was.  
  
"How long have I been asleep?" Rory asked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.  
  
"Since about two seconds after you asked me to stay with you." She told her as she helped her stand.  
  
"I'm sorry. I tried to listen to you, honestly." Rory said as Dean approached.  
  
"It's ok. Go home and get some rest." Paris said as she started back to the building.  
  
"Hey there. Heard you had a rough day." Dean said as he put his arm around her and helped her to his truck.  
  
"Yea. You could say that. But it's getting better." she said as he lifted her into the truck and closed the door. When he got in he held up two bags.  
  
"In bag A I have a warm, fresh burger from Luke's complete with fries. In bag B I have homemade chicken noodle soup, also warm and complete with crackers. The choice is yours, which do you feel up for?"  
  
"That's a tough choice." Rory joked as she remembered how sick she felt earlier. Taking a moment to realize that her stomach felt fine she grabbed the burger. "I may have been a little sick, but I'm not crazy enough to pass up free food." She said taking a bite.  
  
"Come on let's go home." He said as he pulled away from Chilton. 


	3. chapter 3

Half way to Star's Hallow Rory fell asleep. When she woke up she was lying on the couch in her living room with Dean sitting next to her.  
  
"How long have we been here?" she asked sitting up.  
  
"About two hours. You slept for a really long time." Dean said kissing her in the forehead. "I called your mom and let her know what happened. I also told her not to worry about coming home."  
  
"Ok. What are you watching." She asked as she moved over to lean against him.  
  
"One of the best movies ever made. Bandits." He said wrapping his arms around her.  
  
"Never heard of it. What's it about?"  
  
"You've never heard of it! You of all the cinematically obsessed people on earth, where did I go wrong!" he said feigning shock. "It about 4 German girls in prison who start a band then break out of prison. It's great. It's got great music too."  
  
"Music, prison, girl bands all in one movie? Are you sure you can handle all the?" Rory teased. Dean simply kissed her and they finished the movie.  
  
When the movie ended Rory and Dean both got up and went into the kitchen. "You made me coffee! You're wonderful I love you!" Rory exclaimed as she ran over to the pot.  
  
"If that was all I had to do I'd have done it a long time ago!" Dean joked.  
  
"Rory I'm home. Where are you?" Lorelai shouted as she walked in the front door.  
  
"Kitchen." Rory shouted back between gulps of coffee. "Look he made coffee!" Rory said as her mom walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey I guess we can keep him then." She replied getting a cup for herself.  
  
" 'He' is still in the room" Dean peeped in.  
  
"You know the first sign of insanity is referring to yourself in the third person." Lorelai said as she pointed for the two teens to sit at the table. "So how are you feeling?" She asked putting the back of her hand to Rory's forehead.  
  
"I'm fine." Rory replied.  
  
"Well I have an appointment for you with Dr. Eden tomorrow."  
  
"Mom, I don't need to go to the doctor. I'm fine now." Rory argued seeing her mom tensing up.  
  
"Your going, end of discussion." She said then got up and walked over to the sink.  
  
"Mom there's nothing wrong. I'm fine. I'm not going." Rory said standing up as well.  
  
"No, Rory, there is something wrong! You passed out! You've never in your entire life, passed out, and today you did. You are going to the doctors tomorrow because I am the mother and the adult and I said so." Lorelai said throwing the soapy sponge into the sink.  
  
"Ok your wearing a Fraggle Rock shirt. How can you claim to be the adult?" Rory yelled.  
  
"Look, tomorrow after school I will pick you up from school. Then we will go Dr. Eden's. This discussion is over. Now I'm going to go upstairs and change into a more mom/adult like shirt then well, I don't know what then but we are not going to talk about this again." Lorelai yelled and stormed out of the room.  
  
"Wow." Dean said as he walked over to Rory. "You ok?" he asked pulling her into a hug.  
  
"I don't know. We never fight like that." Rory said holding onto Dean.  
  
"Can I ask you something without you getting mad?" Dean asked.  
  
"Sure, you can ask, I may not answer"  
  
"Why are you so afraid to go to the doctor?" he asked looking her in the eyes.  
  
"I… I… because I'm not so sure I'm ok." She reluctantly admitted. She had been feeling that there was something wrong for a while, but was too scared to find out what it was.  
  
"What ever it is, you'll be fine. And I'll be right here, we'll get through it together." Dean had known something was wrong as well. He didn't like to admit it, but her was worried mad that Rory was really sick.  
  
"Thank you. That means a lot." Rory said then kissed him.  
  
*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^*  
  
"Hi. How was your day?" Lorelai asked as Rory got in the car after school.  
  
"It will be twenty times better when this is over." She replied grumpily  
  
"Yea, you and me both." Her mom said as she pulled out of the Chilton parking lot.  
  
"Good afternoon Ladies." Dr. Eden said as the Gilmore's walked into the exam room. "What seems to be wrong?" He asked Rory as he looked at her chart.  
  
"Well…" she began but then caught "the look" from her mom "I've been really tired and weak for a while, and them yesterday I passed out at school." She told the doctor.  
  
"Ok, is there anything else you've noticed? Any significant weight loss? Have you been bruising easily?" He questioned jotting down notes on a note pad.  
  
"Uh… year, both. And I've been really pale, unusually pale."  
  
"Ok, right not it sounds like it could be s couple of different things. Some are serious, some can be fixed with simple dietary changes and supplements. What I'd like to do is draw some blood and see what that tells us."  
  
"Ok, when will we know the results?" Rory asked.  
  
"Well, since you are one of my favorite patients, I can take it down and get the results in half an hour. Now go ahead and come over here and we'll get this over with." He said pointing to the chair across from him. After they took the blood, Lorelai and Rory left to find coffee, with strict instructions to be back in 45 minutes. 


	4. chapter 4

After 45 minutes and 4 cups a coffee, Lorelai and Rory returned to Dr. Eden's office. The attendant at the front desk showed them into the doctor's office.  
  
"Ladies, how are you? Would you like to sit?" Dr. Eden asked as the Gilmores were shown into his office.  
  
"We're great, but could we just get down to business. Did you get the lab results back?" Lorelai asked impatiently.  
  
"Yes, well, I'm afraid the news isn't good. But there is a specialist I know. And while she really isn't taking any new patients, she's agreed to see you…"  
  
"Excuse me doctor, what's wrong with me?" Rory asked.  
  
"Rory, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you have Leukemia." The doctor told her.  
  
"You mean, like cancer?" she asked not wanting to believe it.  
  
"Yes, it is a type of cancer, but Dr. Marvin, the specialist I was telling you about, is the best in her field. She will do everything in her power to help you beat this." Dr. Eden explained as he got up and handed the girls a pamphlet and a business card. "Here is some information about Leukemia and the card for Dr. Marvin."  
  
"When can we go to see her?" Lorelai asked, still trying to come to grip with what they had been told.  
  
"She said she could see you this afternoon if it was convent for you. I told her I would call her and let her know."  
  
"Yea, today is fine." Lorelai said  
  
"Alright, she's expecting you in an hour."  
  
"Ok. Thank you Doctor." Rory said as her mother and she headed for the door.  
  
"I need coffee." Lorelai said when the two got out to the street.  
  
"Me too." Rory echoed as the two headed for the closest coffee shop. The two sat and drank their coffee in silence. Both were still absorbing what the doctor had told them and neither of them could believe it. After they finished their coffee, they left to find the Dr. Marvin's office. When they did the two stood outside just looking at it.  
  
"We should go in." Rory said, but neither of them moved.  
  
"You ready?" Lorelai asked  
  
"No."  
  
"You ready?"  
  
"Yes." She finally said "Come on mom, let's go." Said as she finally found the energy to move. She pulled Lorelai's hand and the two headed inside. Dr. Marvin's office looked like a normal doctor's office from the outside, but from inside it was like a completely different world. It didn't even look like a doctor worked there. There were toys and tables full of art supplies everywhere. The two walked up to the window with the office attendant behind it.  
  
"Um… excuse me. Hi. I… I'm Lorelai Gilmore. This is my daughter, Lorelai Gilmore. I named her after me. I was in the hospital, all whacked out on Demerol…" Lorelai rambled but was elbowed by Rory. "Never mind. B-B- But we call her 'Rory'. It's short for Lorelai or even 'Hey, you' depending on the…" Rory elbowed her again "So we're here to see Dr. Marvin. Dr. Eden sent us."  
  
"Of course, he called and faxed over all your information, so I'll go ahead and take you back Sarah's expecting you." The attendant said as she showed them through the door and into an office with a desk and two chairs in front of it. "Have a seat she'll be with you shortly." The two sat down and looked around the office. There were two big bulletin boards with pictures on them. One was covered with pictures of smiling children and the other had scattered cards, newspaper clipping and pictures on it. Rory tried to sit but was much too anxious. So she got up and wandered over to the board that had less on it. She read some of the cards and articles. Several of the newspaper clips were obituaries there were five total. All of them were children the oldest was 18. She slowly wandered over to the other board that was also covered smiling children. Just then a woman in a lab coat walked in.  
  
"Sorry to keep you waiting." She said as she walked over and hung the lab coat up on the coat rack. "I'm Doctor Sarah Marvin." She said extending a hand to Lorelai.  
  
"I'm Lorelai Gilmore and this is my daughter, her name is Lorelai also, but she goes by Rory." Lorelai said shaking the woman's hand and noticing her attire. She was wearing the same Fraggle Rock shirt that Lorelai had on the night before with jeans and sneakers. "Nice shirt." Lorelai commented as she and Rory sat down.  
  
"Thanks." She said as she got a folder full of papers out. "Dr. Eden sent me your records and the results from your blood test."  
  
"What do you think?" Rory asked  
  
"Ok. First of all, lets get a few things out in the open. I've been a Pediatric Oncologist for ten years; I've had hundreds of patients and lost five. You saw them up on the board I'm sure. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you are not the sixth. I promise I will always be completely honest with both of you, I won't sugarcoat any thing. Now this is what you can expect from me. From you I expect nothing but trust. If you will trust me I promise we will do everything possible to beat this."  
  
"Boy I like her already." Rory whispered to her mom.  
  
"There are a few things you need to know about your disease before we can start to treat it. Fist of all Leukemia is a cancer of the blood forming system, it usually cause abnormal leukocytes or white blood cells. Now its rated by what stage its in, from 1 to 5, the earlier we catch it the easier it is to beat. Do you have any questions so far?"  
  
"Dr. Marvin, what stage is mine in?" Rory asked  
  
"Please call me Sarah or Doc, Dr. Marvin makes me sound old! With you we lucked out, you're in stage 2. That means we have a very good chance to get it. As far as treatment goes, I'd like to go with a Chemotherapy and Radiation cocktail. But don't get too excited, there's no alcohol involved."  
  
"When will this start?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"I would like to start next week. We'll go with Chemo on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Radiation on Tuesday and Thursday." Sarah explained.  
  
"What are the side effects?" Lorelai asked, seeing that Rory wanted to know but was scared to ask.  
  
"It depends on the patient. Some get nauseous, some loose their hair, and some have impaired vision. But some people have no side effects at all. It's hard to say." They discussed treatment for a while longer then the girls left for Star's Hollow. 


	5. chapter 5

"Mom, I'll explain everything at dinner, just be here at 7" Lorelai had been on the phone with her mother for 20 minutes trying to get her to come to the dinner Rory and she had decided to have to tell their friends and family. They hoped that by telling everyone together, they would prevent the trauma of relaying the story 50 times  
  
"Lorelai, I'm going to need a little more explanation than that if you expect your father and I to simply show up for dinner." Emily Gilmore demanded  
  
"Why mother? I'm your daughter, isn't it enough for me to just ask you to come to my house for dinner at 7?" Lorelai questioned.  
  
"Oh fine! We'll be there. Now I really must go." Emily said exasperated, she knew she was not going to win this time.  
  
"Ok, see you at 7." Lorelai said, then hung up. She was exhausted. It was 5:00 and she had two hours to turn into Julia Childs, or at least Sara Lee. Just then she heard a knock on the door, followed by the opening and shutting of the door.  
  
"Lorelai? Are you home?" Luke's voice called from the living room.  
  
"Kitchen." She said as she put her head in her hands.  
  
"Hey! So what's all this about dinner?" Luke asked as he set down the eight bags he was carrying with him.  
  
"I'm having dinner here, tonight. I thought I explained this to you already." She replied without looking up.  
  
"Yes but you didn't explain why." Luke said as he began searching through his bags.  
  
"It's to… what are you doing? What is all that?" Lorelai asked finally looking up at what he was doing.  
  
"I'm looking for this," He said holding up a thermos and taking a mug out of the cupboard. "And these are groceries." He said motioning to the bags.  
  
"YOU BROUGHT ME COFFEE!!! I LOVE YOU!" she said grasping the cup full of heaven. "Wait a minute, this better not be a trick. Is this decaf?" she asked with the cup inches from her lips.  
  
"No trick, I promise." Luke said laughing "On the phone, you sounded like you had a bad day and I thought… well I knew you'd need… or at least want some coffee." He replied as he pulled out another thermos and poured him self a cup from it.  
  
"You're drinking coffee?" Lorelai gasped.  
  
"No, tea." He said giving her a look. "So are you seriously planning to cook tonight?"  
  
"Well…you see… when I planned all this, I didn't think about that." She said sheepishly.  
  
"That's what I figured. That does it, I'm cooking." He said, reaching down to pick up the bags again. He started unloading the contents into the counter. "So what's the big announcement?"  
  
"I um… I need to wait to tell you. I don't think I can handle telling it too many times." She said looking down at her cup.  
  
"Does it have anything to do with Rory's doctor appointment?" he asked sitting back down at the table.  
  
"She has Leukemia." Lorelai said quietly.  
  
"What! You mean like cancer?" he couldn't believe it.  
  
"Yea. God Luke! What am I going to do? She's all I've got." Lorelai cried as tears formed in her eyes.  
  
"It'll be ok, she'll be fine. She's a fighter, she'll beat it. And she's not all you've got. You have me." He said as he got up and pulled her into a hug.  
  
"Thanks Luke." She mumbled through her tears. 


	6. chapter 6

"Rory? Lorelai?" Dean called as he entered the all too familiar house of his girlfriend and her mother.  
  
"Kitchen." He heard Lorelai call.  
  
"Hey" he said when he entered the kitchen and saw Luke cooking and Lorelai watching him from the table. "Is Rory home?" he asked  
  
"She's in her room. Go ahead on in."  
  
"Thanks" he said as he walked to her room. "Rory?" he called as he opened the door. He saw her sitting on her bed, by the window with a book in her lap. She looked up when the door closed behind Dean and he could tell she had been crying. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he sat by her. She closed her book and pulled him into a hug.  
  
"I can't talk about it." She said when she released him.  
  
"Then you don't have to, it's ok." He said seeing she was about to cry and knowing it was bad. "Is this what the whole dinner thing tonight is about?" Rory nodded, not trusting her voice. All she wanted was to be close to him right now so she lay down and pulled him next to her. The two lay there just holding each other for what seemed like forever, but was actually only 45 minutes. After regaining her courage, Rory turned onto her back and Dean propped himself up on the elbow of his free arm.  
  
"It's Leukemia." She said looking down at her hand holding his.  
  
"Oh wow! That wasn't what I was expecting." He answered, he had expected bad, but not that. He unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand. "What are they, the doctors, I mean, what are the doctors going to do?"  
  
"Chemo and radiation. A bone marrow transplant as a last option."  
  
"We'll get through it. You can beat it."  
  
"That's what everyone is saying but I'm not so sure." She said looking up at him.  
  
"I know you can. Your too strong and stubborn to let it beat you." He kissed her on the forehead and she chuckled. Then there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Danger! Danger Will Robins" Lorelai said as she opened the door. "Your grandparents just pulled up. As cute as you two look, I'd untangle if I were you." She said winking before she turned to go answer the ringing doorbell.  
  
"Ok come on you." Rory said swinging out of bed and pulling Dean with her.  
  
"Hey Rory." Dean said stopping before they got to the door.  
  
"Yea." She answered.  
  
"I love you." He said and then kissed her.  
  
"I love you too." She said back before they went into the kitchen. 


	7. chapter 7

As Rory and Dean entered the living room they could hear Emily Gilmore starting in on one of her ranting spells.  
  
"Mom, you remember Dean." Lorelai said quickly changing the subject.  
  
"Oh yes, of course, it's nice to see you again." she said.  
  
"Dean, could I have a word with you please?" Richard asked motioning for the door.  
  
"Uh sure." He replied giving Rory a look and then following Richard out side.  
  
Once they got out to the front porch Richard turned to Dean and said "I wanted to talk to you about that night at dinner. I acted horribly and I'm sorry. It's obvious that Rory cares a great deal about you and that you make her happy. And that is all I want for her. Whether she attends Harvard or not I simply want her to be happy." He pause a moment to test Dean's reaction.  
  
"Then we have more in common than you think, because that's all I want for her too. I'll do whatever it takes to make her happy and I would never do anything to hurt her." Dean replied.  
  
"I'm glad to hear that. When I'm wrong I say I'm wrong, and I was wrong to act as I did. Can you forgive me?" Richard said extending his hand to Dean.  
  
"Of course." He said shaking his hand. "Let's go back inside before they send out dogs and S.W.A.T team." With that they rejoined the group back inside. When they returned they saw Emily nagging at Lorelai about Lord only knows what. Lorelai was desperately trying to make her shut up and looked like she was about to scream.  
  
"Mom! Please stop…" Lorelai cried but was interrupted when Luke entered and cleared his throat.  
  
"Dinner is ready." He said as he observed the scene he walked into.  
  
"Oh thank you God!" Lorelai muttered as she headed for the table with everyone else. When she got there she noticed for the first time that Luke had changed his clothes and was now wearing the outfit she had bought him to wear on Rachel's Birthday. Wow! He looks good! She thought to her self. She then sat down with the others. 


	8. chapter 8

"We'll see you on Friday." Rory, Lorelai, Luke, and Dean stood on the front porch and said good-bye the elder Gilmore's. They had spent two hours discussing what was going to happen over the next few months. There had been yelling, shouting and tears. But finally Lorelai convinced Emily that their doctor was the best and that everything possible would be done.  
  
Since Rory's treatments were scheduled for everyday of the following week, the grandparents decided that dinner would be dependent on how Rory felt. But she insisted that she would feel fine.  
  
"Come on Luke, let's go inside." Lorelai said seeing that Rory and Dean wanted some alone time. Rory flashed her mom a thank you smile as she pulled Luke inside and Rory and Dean sat down on the swing.  
  
"So that was interesting." Dean said.  
  
"Yea, but I think they took it much better than I expected." Rory replied as she leaned up against Dean.  
  
"Yea." He mumbled into her hair and pulled her closer.  
  
"Will you come with me on Monday?" Rory asked looking up at the love of her life.  
  
"Of course, if you want me too."  
  
"Are you sure you don't have to work?"  
  
"I don't care if I do or not. If you need me I'll be there, not even Taylor Doose can stop me."  
  
"Ok." Rory laughed.  
  
  
  
"Thank you." Lorelai said once she and Luke had gotten inside.  
  
"For what?" he replied  
  
"For everything you did for me tonight. For dinner, for talking to me, for everything."  
  
"It was nothing."  
  
"It was a very big something, it meant a lot to me. Facing my mother is never an easy thing, as you saw, but somehow with you here I felt like I could do it."  
  
"I'll be here when ever you need me, for whatever you need. Even if it's just for a shoulder to cry on."  
  
"Thank you Luke." She said sitting down on the couch. "God I don't know what I'm going to do. She's my baby. She's all I have. I can't loose her." Lorelai said trying desperately not to cry.  
  
"It's ok, it'll be ok." Luke said pulling her into a hug even though he didn't know if she really would be ok. 


	9. author's note

Ok guys there are several reasons why I'm doing this author's note chapter thing:  
  
First of all THANK YOU to every one who has reviewed. Even those who didn't have such nice things to say  
  
Second of all as most of you who reviewed have noticed this story does resemble the movie "A Walk to Remember" (even though the book rocked WAY more) HOWEVER it is NOT on purpose. Leukemia is a real disease that effects thousands of real people. Most of them are not represented on TV or in movies, however writing stories, movies and books about the disease is the best way to draw awareness.  
  
I've been working on this story for some time now, (I started LONG, LONG before the previously stated movie came out, but writing takes time) but due to my limited spare time and the fact that I really hate posting unfinished stories I haven't gotten any of it up till now. As for leaving it unfinished I'm sorry. I have the rest written, but it takes a while to type it and post it.  
  
I'm sorry that chapter 8 got messed up, I don't know why, but it did and I hope I fixed it. Let me know if there are any other technical problems.  
  
Keep reading and reviewing.  
  
I hope to have the next part up soon. 


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